Setting the Table for New Leaders

20 board members from Germantown Jewish Centre in Philadelphia took time out on a Thursday evening in the middle of the summer to think about who will take their places in the future. 

It's not new for boards of directors to ask the question, "Who will join us at the board table?" What is refreshing is that boards like GJC's are coming to the realization that there is a question that comes before it: How do we set the table for new leaders? 

Regeneration is core to GJC's story. In the late 1960's and early 1970's, when the number of Jews in Philadelphia's Mt. Airy neighborhood decreased, a hearty group of well educated, Jewishly active and knowledgable young adults - we called them "hippies" then -  created a chavurah. They were welcomed into Germantown Jewish Centre and given meeting space by Rabbi Elias Charry, GJC's rabbi from 1942 until 1973. His board didn't like it. They argued that these young people weren't paying dues, so why should they be given space of their own? And they weren't even davenning with the rest of the congregation!

30 years later, Minyan Masorti continues as GJC's Conservative minyan, and, in addition to a sanctuary service, a Reconstructionist minyan, Dorshe Derech, lives comfortably under the GJC roof. Their independent young chavurah leaders of the 1970's eventually became GJC members, board members and presidents, and shaped the next 40 years of Germantown Jewish Centre.  

Today, with two dynamic rabbis, Rabbi Adam Zeff and Rabbi Annie Lewis, a stable Jewish population in the neighborhood, an excellent preschool program and a large cadre of active new members under 45 years old, GJC is at another turning point.  

They will be one of about 35 kehillot that will launch Sulam for Emerging Leaders (SEL) in the fall. SEL is United Synagogue's leadership development resource to strengthen the relationships and engagement of new members and those who have not stepped into leadership yet. The pillars of the program are Jewish study, reflection and action centered on celebrating Shabbat. "Setting the table" becomes the metaphorical thread through the entire experience, as participants enjoy Shabbat dinner together and then reach out to others in the community.

The dozen rabbis and their training partners who tested the curriculum last year gave it rave reviews. It seems to be doing what we hoped - bringing people closer together, and helping them look at how they prioritize their spare time, especially time for the sacred. (A first year report will be released by our evaluators, Dr. Steven Cohen and Dr. Ezra Kopelowicz, in December 2012.)

We expect that deeper relationships will generate a sense of responsibility towards the community, and that SEL graduates will step forward into leadership as they're ready. But it's clear that no matter how close new members become to each other, they won't move towards leadership unless service to the community is meaningful and relevant. And what we know is that the governance and operational structures, the committee meetings, reports and wheel spinning that baby boomers and the generation before them created is not what the younger folks will tolerate.

Germantown Jewish Centre's president, Mitch Marcus, recognized the opportunity for his board to face this generational dynamic as they recruit emerging leaders for Sulam.  I had the privilege and fun of facilitating the discussion. Board members, ranging in age from 39 to about 75, compared the life experiences of the four generations that are in our synagogue communities and how that would affect what we called the "Four R's" of engagement - relationship, recruitment, relevance and recognition. 

We uncovered potential conflicts among the generations in some of the most innocent places. One under-40 board member pointed out, for example, that our workshop time - a Thursday night at 7:30 - was inconvenient for people who have to put children to bed. I could see the people over 55 remembering when their kids were young, rushing through dinner, bath time and story time so they could get to Thursday night meetings at the shul. The expectation that leaders would prioritize their time in that way doesn't hold up for the generations we wish to bring forward in the future.

GJC's board came up with a number of ideas for how they will support the Sulam for Emerging Leaders program. First is that they will give the participants time and space to create relationships among themselves. Most important, as board members they will continue their own work to re-think how they operate so that the the next generation will join them at the leadership table.